1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to safe nursing systems and methods for controlling safe nursing systems, and particularly relates to safe nursing systems and methods for controlling safe nursing systems that monitor the movement of a patient on a bed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the following is an example of a sensor serving as a safe nursing system for preventing falls from a bed. For example, an infrared sensor, an image sensor, or a beam sensor is an example of a sensor that does not come into contact with the patient. On the other hand, a floor-based foot sensor or a mat sensor placed under a sheet is an example of a sensor that comes into contact with the patient. A clip sensor is an example of a sensor affixed to the patient.
Such safe nursing systems can, within the sensing range of the sensors, mechanically convert the movement of the patient, such as whether or not the patient is on his or her bed, into simplified patterns and notify a caregiver thereof.
A rising monitoring method and apparatus has been proposed as another safe nursing system. This method and apparatus set a monitoring region for determining whether a subject (also called a “patient” hereinafter) has risen from his or her bed, use a camera to capture an image of a space from the side of the bed that includes the monitoring region, and determine that the subject is exhibiting rising behavior in the case where the size of a subject image region that fits within the monitoring region in the captured image has become greater than or equal to a predetermined value (see JP 2006-175082A).
However, the above-mentioned technology has a problem in that notification was not provided to a caregiver based on the condition of each patient. For example, depending on the patient's condition, notification is required even for a patient attempting to rise or notification is required when a patient descends from the bed and does not come back.